Cameroon+Diana+Castro

**Cameroon **
Cameroon is a country located in Midwestern Africa, boarding the countries of Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Bight of Biafra. It has a a total area of 475,440 km2. 40% of the Cameroonians have indigenous beliefs, 40% are Christians, and 20% are Muslims. One of Cameroon's major problems is HIV/AIDS, since its one of the leading causes of deaths in the country, and it is currently in eleventh place in country comparison to the world. Its terrain consists of coastal plains, plateaus, and mountains.



//** Population: 20, 129, 878 **// Cameroon's population is of 20,129,878, and this is very low considering the vast territorial area. This lack of population takes place because of the high death numbers in the country, most of them due to AIDS.

//** Birth rate: 32.49/1000 **// Cameroon's birth rate is affected by the poverty in which the country lives, and many couples try to have few children in order to keep their family economy more stable.

//** Death rate: 11.66/1000 **// Cameroon's death rate is very high due to several factors. One of them is poverty, since many people can't afford to pay for food. Also, many of the country's population is infected with HIV/AIDS, which makes many young people extremely exposed to early deaths.

//** Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1000 **// Cameroon's net migration rate is 0, meaning that there is not much flow between people who enter and leave the country. This country has extremely few immigrants, since it's very violent, has a very high death rate, and is in economic crisis. The natives aren't able to leave the country because money availability keeps them from doing so.

//** Infant mortality rate: 59.7/ 1000 **// Cameroon's Infant mortality rate is very high, since there are many sicknesses in the area, and there is little money to finds cure for them. Also, mothers aren't well educated and usually don't take a very good care of the kids. This causes many children to die young.

//** Population growth rate: 2.082% **// Cameroon's Population growth rate is of 2.08%, since there are a lot of deaths in the population and cause the population growth rate to happen slowly.

//** Life expectancy: males- 53.82 years; females- 55.63 years; Total: 54.71 years **// In Cameroon, life expectancy on average is 54.71 years. This number isn't so high due to many factors that affect the population's health. They are, as stated before, poverty, HIV/AIDS contamination, and violence.

//** Doubling time: 33.6 years **// It's going to take 33.6 years for Cameroon's population to double, which is a little slow considering the amount of people they have. This happens because of the high mortality rate, which is very high. A lot of people die because these factors, and cause the doubling time to grow.

__** What stage of the Demographic Transition Model is Cameroon in? Is it a MEDC or a LEDC? **__ Cameroon is currently in Phase 2 Demographic Transition. This country is a LEDC, or a less economically developed country. People living in and outside Cameroon are worried about this country and trying to fix or help solve the issues that are occurring now and affecting the population.

__** Any major population issues facing your country? **__ - One of the major population issues that Cameroon is actually facing is HIV/AIDS. In 2009, out of 18,900,000 people(which was in that time Cameroon's population), 37,000 were killed by AIDS, and 610,000 were living with the sickness. The lack of education in this country is one of the main causes of such manifestation.

- Another major population issue would be the lack of education. There may be several schools lying around Cameroon, but kids attending them are actually very few and they barely learn new things. Teachers working in the institutes aren't qualified enough to do so, and this causes students to lose interest in any academic activities whatsoever.

- Lack of education leads to another major issue that Cameroon is facing: Economic crisis. Cameroon's population is in an economic crisis, since most of its citizens haven't received education. When time passes, people grow up to be ignorant and possess no knowledge other than the sole one of their occupation. Cameroon possesses oil resources and prosperous agricultural conditions, but isn't able to take advantage of these because of lack of education and high levels of corruption. 



Poverty in Cameroon



Large Portion of Cameroon's Population is Infected AIDS Diana Castro 10C

__ References __ Hivinsite. "Comprehensive, Up-to-date Information on HIV/AIDS Treatment, Prevention, and Policy from the University of California San Francisco." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Cameroon //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">. UCFS, 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/global?page=cr09-cm-00>.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">"Cameroon." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">- Country Profile //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">. IndexMundi, n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://www.indexmundi.com/cameroon/>.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">"Central Intelligence Agency." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">CIA //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">. CIA, 6 Nov. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cm.html>.